Social Science and Public Policy

Richard Freeman

Frequently Asked Question

Isn't policy boring?

answer

Why do you think so? I'm always surprised by this question. Then again, isn't this what's interesting about it? What have we done such that world-making, which is really what government is, has become boring? Part of the problem, I think, is in treating policy as a thing, not a practice. We talk too much about this inert, abstracted thing, and too little about what people are doing - and thinking, and talking about - when they are doing government.